


why didn’t you tell me?

by MissRaichyl



Series: I Just Want To Love You [1]
Category: That '70s Show
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Maybe a little angst, Season 8 Fix It Fic - Freeform, Short One Shot, Steven confesses, The feels, Two Years Later, fluff and nothing but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24055468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissRaichyl/pseuds/MissRaichyl
Summary: Two years after the end of the 70's, Steven learns the truth behind the night of the hotel from Kelso in a circle and finally decides to win Jackie back, even if it means showing his true feelings.
Relationships: Jackie Burkhart/Steven Hyde
Series: I Just Want To Love You [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735426
Comments: 1
Kudos: 51





	why didn’t you tell me?

I lean forward, not really wanting to talk about this, not after all the shit that’s gone down, but how can I leave it alone? “Why didn’t you just tell me?” I ask against my better judgement. I barely look toward her as the question falls from my stupid lips, but what can I do?

Her black curls shake around her shoulders. “You act like I didn’t try…” She trails off, looking back to the tv as a contestant tries to spin the wheel. She doesn’t look at me. “Isn’t that in the past, Steven?” She sighs, running a hand through her hair, and I really want to leave it all in the past.

After everything that’s happened between us, after Sam and Fez, but it’s been two years and she’s still running circles around my mind. She’s moved on probably but I’m stuck. When I look at her, I want to tease her, I want her to kick me in her annoyed rage. I want a reaction so I know that I still affect her. I still see the girl slipping into my room after one am. I see her in that damn wedding dress in the mall, though her taste has probably changed… I see her as the broken girl I left kneeling by a couch as my “wife” walked into the room. 

“Jackie, please,” Her legs uncross and her heels hit the floor with a forced click. I look up as she stands. 

“No, Steven.” She says, “It’s in the past.” She turns her back to me and takes a step forward, another and I see her again in the yellow shirt, in her striped cardigan asking me for a sign I refused to give and it makes me move. It urges me to grab her arm, to make her stay. 

It’s enough to make her pause, at least. “Jackie, I…” I think for a second. I can’t get this wrong. “It’s taken me a long time and I’m sorry.” I apologize, knowing that’s where this needs to start. “I’m sorry it took three years to see that I was wrong, wrong to doubt you. I’m really sorry that it’s taken this long for me to say sorry.” I let her wrist go, I take off my glasses, and I wait. I wait for her to continue out the door or to turn around. 

“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to realize that I wanted to say yes but… I don’t know, man.” I say, brush a hand through my curls and wait, watching her shoulders rise and fall, realizing her breath is uneven.

“I don’t want to do this,” She says, her voice watery and I see her arm move up to wipe her eyes, hidden from me. “I don’t want to go through this again.” She says and I know what she means. The heartbreak took its toll on us in different ways. It even led me to push her into a lake. It led her to kiss Fez. 

“Why didn’t you tell me, Jacks?” I slip and my secret nickname for her slips from my lips for the first time in years. 

“Don’t do that, Steven- don’t act like we’re still close when you know we aren’t,” she finally turns around and her eyes are already faintly red, tears being held back. Her voice is thick and all I want is to break that dam. “We aren’t _that_ anymore.” She stresses and I wish I hadn’t chased after Kelso, that I hadn’t said “I don’t know” like a dumbass. 

“Don’t say that,” I say pathetically, trying to show something for the first time in a long time. “Don’t say no or I don’t know-”

“Like you did?” She throws back and if she kicks me, I might cry tears of joy. “Like you gave me, over and over though I fought for us over and over, like some kind of moron?” She practically yells at me. “We’re done, Steven.” She tells me with a final look and I want to believe her but I can’t.

“No,” I say, staring into her mismatched eyes for maybe a second beyond creepy and I smile like the true dumbass I am. “Because you love me.” I say and ten seconds later on the dot, I feel pain blossom in my shin and I yelp in pain. 

“If you say that again, I’ll kick your other leg.” She warns and I know I’m right. Against everything, I’m _right_. 

“And,” I grunt out, trying to will the sharp pain away, “I love you.” I tell her. “Despite everything- every dumb thing we’ve done to each other or against each other- I don’t care about it.” I tell her. “I love you.” I stand straight and stare at her, wondering if she’ll admit it. 

She stares at me for a long time, her eyes searching for something and I see the twitch of her lips, fighting a smirk or a smile- something that would radiate Jacqueline Burkhart. Instead she crosses her arms and my smile falters, thinking that she’ll stick with the same answer she’s already given. “I’m not saying it back.” She says instead in a stilted tone and that memory comes back, the roles having switched entirely and there was no yelling “Get off my boyfriend” and no stupid rat analogy, but instead it was my words thrown back at me and I want laugh, to scream "yes" because we have another chance.

“I don’t care,” I reply instead, choosing to go back to past to start again, using her words and now I truly know what she felt back in that moment. I didn’t need her to say it back to know she feels the same. I didn’t need the confirmation of it to know I am correct. Like her, some five years ago, I feel that feeling again. And I feel it stronger when she does as she did, wrapping her arms around my waist tightly, burying her face in my collar.

This wasn’t the end of our talk- we'd probably be talking it out for the next five months but now I knew what she didn’t have to tell me and it was a better start.


End file.
